Kukla's Korner Hockey

Jacques Martin played Chris Phillips, a defenseman who was the No. 1 pick in the 1996 draft, extensively at wing early in his career. So when coach Martin had Jay Bouwmeester at forward during parts of the Panthers' scrimmage Thursday, a few eyebrows were raised.
Nothing to it, Martin insisted. Just double-shifting a couple of defenseman enough to play four lines. Still, Panthers fans could get used to the idea of seeing Bouwmeester buzzing the net, figuring he has enough speed to recover defensively.
Martin admitted he'd like to see it.
"You look at teams right now, they check so well, you can create an opportunity when you have a guy like that who can jump up into the attack," said Martin, after the second day of workouts at Incredible Ice.